Max Richter: The Last Days on Mars [OST]

Max Richter

The Last Days on Mars [OST]

Universal UK

You know it’s unlikely I’ll rush to see the film – perhaps I’ll get to it, one day, on DVD, but I do like this soundtrack. It’s from Max Richter, and I’ll check out anything he’s involved with. Though many people didn’t like his reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons that was the album that hooked me into his work, sent me back to the other pieces and particularly the film scores; I’d heard some of his work and liked it (particularly Waltz with Bashir and his contribution to Shutter Island) but it was the Recomposed album that made me want to fully explore the Richter sound.

So his Last Days soundtrack – though more bombastic in places – is reminiscent for me of the Cliff Martinez score for Solaris, mostly in that the music plays out on its own as a complete piece and I have no real desire to visit the accompanying images, to marry them up, as is so often the way with film scores. When it comes down to it very few stand alone outside and away from the film. But Last Days on Mars has been one of my ‘quiet time’ albums, a piece of modern classical music essentially, a temporary escape.

I’ve played it a lot across the last couple of months. Perhaps one day I’ll ruin that by watching the film. But at least I’ll know the music will be a saving grace of the movie.